People Of The British Isles Research Articles

Sequencing of autosomal, mitochondrial and Y-chromosomal forensic markers in the People of the British Isles cohort detects population structure dominated by patrilineages

Short tandem repeat (STR) polymorphisms are traditionally assessed by measuring allele lengths via capillary electrophoresis (CE). Massively parallel sequencing (MPS) reveals differences among alleles of the same length, thus improving discrimination, but also identifying groups of alleles likely related by descent. These may have relatively restricted geographical distributions and thus MPS could detect population structure more effectively than CE-based analysis. We addressed this question by applying an MPS multiplex, the Promega PowerSeq™ Auto/Mito/Y System prototype, to 362 individuals chosen to represent a wide geographical spread from the People of the British Isles (PoBI) cohort, which represents at least three generations of local rural ancestry. As well as 22 autosomal STRs (aSTRs; equivalent to PowerPlex Fusion loci) the system sequences 23 Y-STRs (the PowerPlexY 23 loci) and the control region (CR) of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), allowing population structure to be compared across biparentally and uniparentally inherited segments of the genome. For all loci, FST-based tests of population structure were done based on historical, linguistic, and geographical partitions, and for aSTRs the clustering algorithm STRUCTURE was also applied. STRs were considered using both length and sequence. Sequencing increased aSTR allele diversity by 87.5% compared to CE-based designations, reducing random match probability to 1.25E-30, compared to a CE-based 6.72E-27. Significant population structure was detectable in just one pairwise comparison (Central/South East England compared to the rest), and for sequence-based alleles only. The 362 samples carried 308 distinct mtDNA CR haplotypes corresponding to 13 broad haplogroups, representing a haplotype diversity of 0.9985 ( ± 0.0005), and a haplotype match probability of 0.0043. No significant population structure was observed. Y-STR haplotypes belonged to ten broad predicted Y-haplogroups. Allele diversity increased by 33% when considered at the sequence rather than length level, although haplotype diversity was unchanged at 0.999969 ( ± 0.000001); haplotype match probability was 2.79E-03. In contrast to the biparentally and maternally inherited loci, Y-STR haplotypes showed significant population structure at several levels, but most markedly in a comparison of regions subject to Anglo-Saxon influence in the east with the rest of the sample. This was evident for both length- and sequence-based allele designations, with no systematic difference between the two. We conclude that MPS analysis of aSTRs or Y-STRs does not generally reveal stronger population structure than length-based analysis, that UK maternal lineages are not significantly structured, and that Y-STR haplotypes reveal significant population structure that may reflect the Anglo-Saxon migrations to Britain in the 6th century.

The ‘People of the British Isles’ project and Viking settlement in England

The recently concluded ‘People of the British Isles’ project (hereafter PoBI) combined large-scale, local DNA sampling with innovative data analysis to generate a survey of the genetic structure of Britain in unprecedented detail; the results were presented by Leslie and colleagues in 2015. Comparing clusters of genetic variation within Britain with DNA samples from Continental Europe, the study elucidated past immigration events via the identification and dating of historic admixture episodes (the interbreeding of two or more different population groups). Among its results, the study found “no clear genetic evidence of the Danish Viking occupation and control of a large part of England, either in separate UK clusters in that region, or in estimated ancestry profiles”, therefore positing “a relatively limited input of DNA from the Danish Vikings”, with ‘Danish Vikings’ defined in the study, and thus in this article, as peoples migrating from Denmark to eastern England in the late ninth and early tenth centuries (Leslieet al.2015: 313). Here, we consider the details of certain assumptions that were made in the study, and offer an alternative interpretation to the above conclusion. We also comment on the substantial archaeological and linguistic evidence for a large-scale Danish Viking presence in England.

The beginnings of royal pardon in Scotland

ABSTRACTThe well attested (and comprehensively studied) animus that informed English attitudes towards the Gaelic-speaking peoples of the British Isles in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries has tended to obscure important developments in the legal landscape of contemporary Scotland. This article argues that soon after 1200, the king of Scots deliberately abandoned as barbaric, obnoxious and unbecoming a Christian prince the practice of mutilating high-status political enemies and ritually defiling their bodily remains. The transformation reflected influences from England and Europe in general, but the argument here is that ultimately the change reflected the maturation of the Scottish ideas about Christian kingship, royal justice and royal mercy.

With víkingr into the Identity Trap: When Historiographical Actors Get a Life of Their Own

As the field of genetic history has grown, academic interest in migration, peoples and ethnic identities has also grown apace. The people of the British Isles have been a focus of research in this area. Specifically, researchers have been fishing for Vikings in the gene pool. My paper begins, therefore, with some brief remarks on the etymology of the term »Viking«, its historical usage and the reception of Vikings in modern times. I address practices of naming as well as the role of romanticization and mythologization as constituents of the popular image of »the Vikings«. The discussion makes it apparent that the term »Viking« has a wide variety of associations and that behind the shared designation, which functions as a kind of semantic shorthand, lie many relationships that have yet to be studied. For that reason, in a second step, this paper outlines what are, in some cases, the greatly diverging conceptualizations of time, space, mobility and identity on which archaeological and genetic interpretations are based. I discuss in particular the problem posed by the essentialization of archaeological subjects as well as the »naturalization« of protagonists of historiographical narratives and their equation with historical actors. Finally, I address the dangers associated with identity politics, which go on both outside the academic discourse and within academia itself. Our duty now is to steer clear of mere battles over the prerogatives of interpretation. Instead, we must cultivate academic and political reflexivity, as well as mutual acceptance. Only by doing so will we be able to explore questions – and they are important questions – concerning the constitution and historicization of identities, interactions among migrations, mobility and identity, and about the relationships between biological and social reproduction.

Genetic Indigenisation in ‘The People of the British Isles’

In 2007, Channel 4 screened Face of Britain, a documentary about the genetic mapping of Britain. Face of Britain promised to reveal ‘who we really are’ by tracing genetic links back to ancient Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans. This article situates Face of Britain within the wider racial and national politics that it is invariably caught up in, and examines how ‘race’ and racial thinking are reconfigured in ways that are both ‘old’ and ‘new’. Face of Britain constitutes an interesting case study to examine how ideas of indigeneity are produced and naturalised in scientific discourses and practices. Here, indigeneity is mobilised through three sub-narratives: the ‘vanishing indigene’; the promise of facial recognition; and DNA and national relatedness. The analysis reveals how some people of the British Isles are naturalised as indigenous by virtue of their ancestral presence in this land through a combination of genetic and photographic technologies. In short, blood and soil are intertwined, with genes as mediators between ancestors and contemporary inhabitants of Britain. Furthermore, the invisible genetic connection is made visible through the creation of ‘average faces of Britain’, which is considered here as a contemporary version of physiognomy. In conclusion, Face of Britain testifies to the reconfiguration of ‘racial thinking’ in contemporary science, through what ultimately amounts to the genetic indigenisation of white Britons. Consequently, this study lends itself to racialised politics of land claims that resonate with, but are different from, indigenous politics in other contexts, namely with regards to the relationship to whiteness.

Chivalry in Medieval England (review)

Reviewed by: Chivalry in Medieval England Sam Zeno Conedera SJ Nigel Saul, Chivalry in Medieval England (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 2011) 416 pp., ill. The stated aim of Chivalry in Medieval England is “to present an account of English aristocratic society in the Middle Ages which puts chivalry centre-stage” (5). Nigel Saul, whose extensive work on the subject prepared the way for this synthetic work, has admirably achieved his aim. Although Chivalry will make an invaluable reference work, it is more of a tour of medieval military, political, social, and cultural developments in England and northern France from the vantage point of the elusive phenomenon we call “chivalry.” Saul’s [End Page 274] blend of chronological and thematic approaches and plurality of perspectives are keys to his accomplishment. The first six chapters are primarily chronological with thematic overtones, moving from the origins of English chivalry at the time of the Norman Conquest to the end of the fourteenth century. The next ten chapters are primarily thematic in orientation, dealing with topics like crusading, literature, and gender, but they proceed chronologically in their internal organization. The final two chapters deal with late chivalry under the Yorkists and its ultimate transformation and decline in the Tudor age. Acknowledging that chivalry is “tantalizingly hard to define precisely” and means different things to different people, Saul draws on a wide range of evidence to view the phenomenon from as many angles as possible (3). His descriptions and analysis of fortifications, churches, and funerary monuments show that his research includes a great deal of legwork outside of archives and libraries. Chivalry is decisively oriented towards solving historical problems. Saul does not rest with demonstrating that a particular development took place, but seeks to explain why it did, in clear and accessible language. Two examples should suffice to illustrate the point. At the same time that war was endemic throughout England and Normandy in the late eleventh and early twelfth century, the conduct of war was being softened by a new courtesy. Saul says that the paradox itself offers the explanation: in a situation of constant warfare, it was in everyone’s interest to agree to a set of conventions that limited the impact of hostilities on participants and their followers (11). In explaining the twelfth-century English aristocracy’s fascination with Arthurian literature and history, the author refers to numerous factors. Within a few generations of the Norman Conquest, the aristocracy began to see itself as more English than French, but it still knew rather little about the history of the conquered country (49). The English, alone among the peoples of the British Isles, had no real foundation myth of their own (43). Thus the Arthur legend was one of the key elements in the creation of English mythology and history, which was portrayed in the nascent chivalric terms of the twelfth century, rather than as the social reality of the past (51). Saul’s treatment of such problems is consistently articulate and well supported. Saul is closely attentive to the changing fortunes of chivalry over the course of time, avoiding the pitfall of sweeping generalizations or synchronic myopia. He notes, for example, the early date for the first decline of English chivalry: the loss of Normandy under John Lackland (61). By the end of the thirteenth century, the number of knights in the country dropped from almost 4,000 to about 1,250 (63). Financial pressures, aspiration to status, the incorporation of knights into the royal justice system, and the absence of large-scale warfare all contributed to the infrequency of dubbing. At the same time, knights of the thirteenth century moved more into the countryside and established the foundations for the gentry (68). Aside from broad social and political factors, the initiatives of particular monarchs played an important role in defining and redefining chivalry. Richard the Lionheart was the first English monarch to personally transform chivalry by incorporating it into the image of kingship. He made war a virtue rather than a necessity and actively encouraged tournaments throughout the realm (34–36). Edward I responded to the aforementioned thirteenth-century decline of knighthood by once again raising the military profile of...

A British approach to sampling

The acronym ‘PoBI' may not yet be familiar to human geneticists in the way that ‘HGDP', ‘WTCCC' or ‘HapMap' are, but a paper in this issue of EJHG1 that introduces the ‘People of the British Isles' project to the scientific community aims to change this. The PoBI project will collect up to 5000 DNA samples from diverse regions of the British Isles, taking great care to sample individuals with several generations of ancestry in rural locations. These samples are intended to serve as controls for future medical genetic studies, and to provide insights into the peopling of the British Isles over the last few millennia. Many have already been genotyped on standard SNP chips, and 100 have been sequenced genome-wide by the 1000 Genomes Project. Cell lines and sequence data from the latter are already available (http://www.1000genomes.org/home). Although readers will have to wait for future publications to discover the insights from these large-scale genetic analyses, the current paper describes the sampling strategy and initial 3865 samples in some detail, outlines an approach to investigating fine-scale population structure using surnames, and presents some preliminary genetic analyses of a handful of chosen loci.

People of the British Isles: preliminary analysis of genotypes and surnames in a UK-control population

There is a great deal of interest in a fine-scale population structure in the UK, both as a signature of historical immigration events and because of the effect population structure may have on disease association studies. Although population structure appears to have a minor impact on the current generation of genome-wide association studies, it is likely to have a significant part in the next generation of studies designed to search for rare variants. A powerful way of detecting such structure is to control and document carefully the provenance of the samples involved. In this study, we describe the collection of a cohort of rural UK samples (The People of the British Isles), aimed at providing a well-characterised UK-control population that can be used as a resource by the research community, as well as providing a fine-scale genetic information on the British population. So far, some 4000 samples have been collected, the majority of which fit the criteria of coming from a rural area and having all four grandparents from approximately the same area. Analysis of the first 3865 samples that have been geocoded indicates that 75% have a mean distance between grandparental places of birth of 37.3 km, and that about 70% of grandparental places of birth can be classed as rural. Preliminary genotyping of 1057 samples demonstrates the value of these samples for investigating a fine-scale population structure within the UK, and shows how this can be enhanced by the use of surnames.

Introduction1

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes Thanks to Nancy McDonald for technical assistance. Joseph Lennon, Irish Orientalism: A Literary and Intellectual History (Syracuse University Press, 2004). For example, Simon James, in The Atlantic Celts: Ancient People or Modern Invention? (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1999), argues that the claim that the Irish and other peoples of the British Isles are Celtic is not based on archeological evidence but on the desires of nineteenth-century nationalists to claim an ancestry. Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism (New York: Vintage, 1993), 220–38. For a good anthropological analysis of Ireland in the early years of independence, see Conrad M. Arensberg, The Irish Countryman (London: Macmillan, 1937). Emmet J. Larkin, “The Devotional Revolution in Ireland, 1850–1875,” American Historical Review 77 (1972): 625–52. This phrase comes from the title of Thomas F. Inglis’ book, Moral Monopoly: The Rise and Fall of the Catholic Church in Modern Ireland (Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 1998). Conor Cruise O’Brien, God Land: Reflections on Religion and Nationalism (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1988). Ashutosh Varshney, Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life: Hindus and Muslims in India (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002).

L'État, la nation et les peuples au Moyen Âge: l'expérience britannique

The history of the formation of the English nation state in the period 900-1050 presents a remarkable case-study of the making of a country and a people. This article analyses the elements - including regnal power, ethnic mythology and the invention of names - which made this process possible. By 1100 England's identity was shaped and defined; but it was an identity which also made it impossible for England to forge an effective relationship with the other countries and peoples of the British Isles.

The island of England in the fifteenth century: perceptions of the peoples of the British Isles

This article considers the perceptions which the peoples of the ‘British’ islands had of one another, as well as the perceptions which visitors from mainland Europe formed of those they encountered in ‘the island named Britain’. It focuses on the fifteenth century, and shows how regional variations in matters such as language, dress and social customs were described and judged. It emphasises the tensions and prejudices between the different peoples of Britain, fostered in part by issues of English overlordship and of international politics. It also discusses the rising interest of governments during the nineteenth century in archival collections relating to their history which were housed overseas, and shows how this affected British historical attitudes and interests.

Technical education in Canada

If things develop as they should, Canada and persons and things Canadian should become ever more important, in the decades ahead, to the people of the British Isles. There are several reasons for this. The first was expressed last August in the Calgary Herald in an article which stated firmly that, even though the United States dominates the economic life of Canada, the different international viewpoint of Canada ought, in the councils of the world, to be made ever more apparent. Canadians, as a whole, are very anxious to help the building up of a harmonious cooperating world and less fiercely doctrinaire than most Americans in their opposition to the allied ‘evils’ of socialism and communism and their delegates at international conferences have been very helpful in this respect.

The Commonwealth and Britain East of Suez

rT HERE are now 22 members of the Commonwealth. For 21, the transition from Empire is complete. They are free and independent. They make their own policies. They are republics or monarchies as they choose. They belong or do not belong to alliances. They can be more intimate with fellow North Americans or fellow Africans than with their sister states of the Commonwealth without an eyebrow being raised. The 22nd state, the odd one out, is Britain herself. Britain has still not quite lost her nostalgia for the old days of Empire. Nothing shows this more clearly that the continuing British presence east of Suez. In its heyday, the Empire was the'means by which Britain fulfilled a unique role in the world. North America, Africa, Asia have been changed for all foreseeable time by Britain's imperial achievements. Naturally, the British people hope for some survival of that unique position; naturally, they hanker after some continuing recognition that their place in the world is not quite as that of others. Naturally, therefore, they are willing to let consideration for their Commonwealth duties influence their actions in a way none of the others do. For a time they put much faith in their special relationship with that ex-member of the Empire, the United States. Many have always tended to see the United States, like Ireland, as a natural member of the Commonwealth whose failure to belong is only explicable by historical events better forgotten. This special link with the United States does, of course, exist in sentimental terms. The people of the British Isles are more at home with Americans than with Frenchmen or Germans; the language is the same, the ways of behaviour are mutually comprehensible, even the class structures are becoming more and more alike. But politically, in terms of Britain's position in the world, the special relationship is a myth-the Americans were providing President Nasser with free food at the very moment when he was trying to subvert the Aden base the Americans were urging Britain to keep. The British are very loyal allies; their bases in the Indian Ocean lighten an American load or two. They are not the vital allies; it is the Germans who are on the Russian border. Nor are they the difficult allies who must nevertheless be lived with; that is de Gaulle. And they cannot be' the enemy. So they fill the role that the abler Maharajahs,

The Mental and Moral Effects of the South African War, 1899—1902, on the British People

How wide-spread and how varied the impression was that was created by the late war between the British Empire and the Boers of South Africa, is a matter of common knowledge. There is no means of arriving at an exact idea of the influence it exerted upon one of the belligerent parties, but, so far as the people of the British Isles are concerned, there is abundant evidence to show that it produced an immediate and very profound, though unlasting, modification of national character and conduct.